The Daily Star- The Lebanese Energy and Water Ministry will finish constructing a 1 Megawatt solar power plant on Beirut River in early 2015, Energy and Water Minister Arthur Nazarian said Wednesday, though he acknowledged that it would supply only a tiny portion of the country’s power needs.

 

“We intend to complete the construction of such a power plant in the first quarter of 2015 and link its production to the network of Électricité du Liban,” he told attendees at the Beirut Energy Forum.

 

Nazarian said the project would be environmentally friendly and the first of its kind worldwide, as it will be suspended over the river.

 

Nazarian said the forum would also see the launch of another initiative to construct a 3 MW solar power plant in two phases.

 

He said 2015 would also witness the launch of wind power projects, adding that the national committee had completed several stages in the international bidding disclosures for wind power production ranging from 50 MW to 100 MW.

 

The minister said the projects were being funded through NEEREA, a national financing mechanism initiated by the Central Bank, in collaboration with the Finance and the Energy and Water ministries, the UNDP, the EU and the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation.

 

“The funds invested in such projects exceeded $152 million and we call upon the Central Bank to maintain this trend by attracting new investors as well,” he said.

 

Nazarian has also called upon companies willing to produce electricity through solar power to build solar plants with a generating capacity of 10 MW to 50 MW according to law 288 issued in April 2014.

 

 

PHOTO: The solar panel project over Nahr Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014.

CREDIT: The Daily Star/Mohammad Azakir